Alligator Pi, Alligator Pi

Happy Pi Day! Today we celebrate all things pi and, because it's tastier, pie. Apple pie, blueberry pie, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, pizza pie, shepherd's pie, chicken pot pie, and so on and pie forth. In celebration, I'm going to share a little slice of Canadiana with you, a slice of Alligator Pie.

Alligator pie, alligator pie,
If I don't get some I think I'm gonna die.
Give away the green grass, give away the sky,
But don't give away my alligator pie.

Alligator stew, alligator stew,
If I don't get some I don't know what I'll do.
Give away my furry hat, give away my shoe,
But don't give away my alligator stew.

Alligator soup, alligator soup,
If I don't get some I think I'm gonna droop.
Give away my hockey stick, give away my hoop,
But don't give away my alligator soup.

-Dennis Lee
Alligator Pie, 1974.

Alligator Pie has been consistently entertaining scores of Canadian children since it's introduction over 30 years ago in the popular and award-winning collection of children's poetry of the same name by Toronto-born poet Dennis Lee. As Canadian as Alligator Pie, one could say.

While Alligator Pie is a modern Canadian classic, it's actually Lee's later 1983 collection Jelly Belly that's nearest and dearest to my heart, his upturned nursery rhymes combined with fascinatingly detailed (sometimes grotesque) illustrations by Juan Wijngaard. It's been a long while since I've read any, but the whimsical humour, sometimes delicious nonsensicalities, and effortless sing-songy nature of his poems recalls the likes of Shel Silverstein, Ogden Nash, or A. A. Milne.

Eddie Douglas - Alligator Pie [based on the poem by Dennis Lee]
Carole Peterson - Alligator Pie [based on the poem by Dennis Lee]

These are two different versions of Alligator Pie put to music. The first is a wonderful folk interpretation from Ontario singer-songwriter Eddie Douglas whose children's album Alligator Ice Cream - Jelly Delight! is completely based on poems written by Dennis Lee. The latter is a sing-a-long for pre-schoolers from Chicago music specialist and educator Carole Peterson. Peterson and a group of kids even make up later verses about alligator cake and alligator pizza. Amusingly, both artists' websites refer to themselves as "a Pied Piper with a guitar" (Douglas) and "the Pied Piper of children's music" (Peterson). I was fascinated to learn that pied (meaning: multi-coloured) and pie (meaning: YUM!) are probably both derived etymologically from magpie...

Rowlf the Dog - Cottleston Pie [based on the poem by A. A. Milne]
From the rare album Ol' Brown Ears is Back, Cottleston Pie is introduced as the little song Winnie-the-Pooh sings to himself when his brain felt fluffy, fittingly another pie-related nonsense poem as sung by Rowlf the Dog AKA Jim Henson.

B. A. Baracus Band - Fraggle Rock [originally written by Dennis Lee/Philip Balsam]
On a related note, Dennis Lee wrote lyrics for Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock television series including the classic opening theme! Henson and Lee also collaborated together on the story for Labyrinth.

Talk Pi!
Sing Pi!
Tweet Pi!
Eat Pie!
However you want, celebrate π!
Also, Happy Birthday Albert Einstein!

Of course, we can't leave without my favourite all-time π song...
Hard 'n Phirm - Pi

Happi π Day!

Pi pie baked by VROG in Bristol!

Round
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever-spinning reel...
Yep, it's Pi Day today. Go forth, eat pie, be merry.

Hard 'n Phirm - Pi
We kick off the celebrations with pretty much the greatest π song ever, a staple of Pi Day posts for many years to come. Also check out the hilarious Keith Schofield-directed music video, which is where I first heard the song.

Hard 'n Phirm - Rodeohead [a medley of Radiohead songs]
From the same album as Pi and available on CD Baby, this distant relative of the Weird Al polka is both a funny and brilliant bluegrass medley of Radiohead songs.

This piece of π art is by the wholly remarkable Daniel Tammet, a high-functioning autistic savant who once set the European record in 2004 for reciting digits of pi from memory: 22,514 digits in just over 5 hours in a charity event. The subject of an engrossing British TV documentary called Brainman (highly recommended), Tammet can speak 11 languages including Icelandic, which he was challenged to learn in one week as part of the program. One of the more curious aspects of his abilities is that he sees numbers in his head as colours, shapes, and textures. When answering mind-boggling math equations or reciting pi, he isn't exactly calculating... but rather the answers just appear as visual landscapes in his head. The picture above is how he sees pi. This is where Keanu would say "Whoa."

Unbelievably, the unofficial world record for reciting pi digits is 100,000 recited over 16.5 hours in Tokyo by a retired Japanese engineer, Akira Haraguchi.

In lieu of re-posting the same π songs every year-- with the exception of Hard 'n Phirm's Pi which WILL be posted every year-- I started thinking about how to incorporate some covers into the mix. And the circular imagery of the Oscar-winning Windmills of Your Mind is a perfect fit. The song was written by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, and Michel Legrand for the 1968 Norman Jewison film The Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. Originally performed by Noel Harrison, when the movie was remade in 1999 with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo in the leads, the song was also covered for the new soundtrack by Sting.

Dusty Springfield - The Windmills of Your Mind
Arguably the most well-known version of the song.

Dorothy Ashby - The Windmills of Your Mind
Awesome jazz-funk instrumental cover by jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby.

Sting - The Windmills of Your Mind

Tina Arena - The Windmills of Your Mind
An excellent track from her 2007 cover album Songs of Love and Loss.

Oh yeah, free swag blah blah blah here. Winners will be picked on Sunday.

Happy Pi Day!

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609433057270365759591953092186117381932611793105118548074462379962749567351885752724891227938183011949129833673362440656643086021394946395224737190702179860943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132000568127145263560827785771342757789609173637178721468440901224953430146549585371050792279689258923542019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960518707211349999998372978049951059731732816096318595024459455346908302642522308253344685035261931188171010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303598253490428755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195909216420198938095257201065485863278865936153381827968230301952035301852968995773622599413891249721775283479131515574857242454150695950829533116861727855889075098381754637464939319255060400927701671139009848824012858361603563707660104710181942955596198946767837449448255379774726847104047534646208046684259069491293313677028989152104752162056966024058038150193511253382430035587640247496473263914199272604269922796782354781636009341721641219924586315030286182974555706749838505494588586926995690927210797509302955321165344987202755960236480665499119881834797753566369807426542527862551818417574672890977772793800081647060016145249192173217214772350141441973568548161361157352552133475741849468438523323907394143334547762416862518983569485562099219222184272550254256887671790494601653466804988627232791786085784383827967976681454100953883786360950680064225125205117392984896084128488626945604241965285022210661186306744278622039194945047123713786960956364371917287467764657573962413890865832645995813390478027590099465764078951269468398352595709825822620522489407726719478268482601476990902640136394437455305068203496252451749399651431429809190659250937221696461515709858387410597885959772975498930161753928468138268683868942774155991855925245953959431049972524680845987273644695848653836736222626099124608051243884390451244136549762780797715691435997700129616089441694868555848406353422072225828488648158456028506016842739452267467678895252138522549954666727823986456596116354886230577456498035593634568174324112515076069479451096596094025228879710893145669136867228748940560101503308617928680920874760917824938589009714909675985261365549781893129784821682998948722658804857564014270477555132379641451523746234364542858444795265867821051141354735739523113427166102135969536231442952484937187110145765403590279934403742007..... and so on and so forth.

Belated Happy Pi Day everyone. I almost missed it. Ok, I did miss it but I'm not waiting another year to post my π songs!

Hard 'n Phirm - Pi
My favourite all-time π song. And check out the awesome music video here. The funniest is when that chubby kid starts to wander off the set and then gets wrangled back on by an angry production assistant. Keith Schofield's other music videos are worth a look too.

The Specifics - 3.1415
Very pleasant tune about how love is like π (my interpretation). "3.1415, the non-recurring story of my life..."

The Seatbelts - 3.14
This a strange little ditty from the Cowboy Bebop movie soundtrack with Ed singing what sounds like a Japanese nursery rhyme then reciting some π-ness


Also, a Pi Day treat: some requests! Don't let this lead to a bombardment of requests now, I'm just in a good mood today. :)

A couple more from Osaka Popstar:
Osaka Popstar & The American Legends of Punk - Astro Boy
[originally by Donald Rockwell & Tatsuo Takai]
I didn't recognize this cover at first, then I found out that this is the 60's Astro Boy and not the 80's Astro Boy that I grew up with.

Osaka Popstar & The American Legends of Punk - Man of Constant Sorrow
[traditional; made famous by the Stanley Brothers]
Upon closer inspection, Sailor Moon and Astro Boy are the only anime covers on the Osaka Popstar album, though 75% of it is still covers (like this one). You can see the full tracklist here.

Five months ago I made a post called Life on Mars? to the Max, with about 30 covers and versions of one of the best David Bowie songs. You can all thank Joe for me re-posting the "Life on Mars? Collection" with a few changes:
-Tino Casal's cover was incomplete the first time around so it's been cut
-I lost my David Bowie live in Edmonton version (don't worry the quality was terrible)
-I've replaced the Dresden Dolls version with an official version I got from the .2 Contamination Bowie Tribute album, although I suspect it was recorded from the same show
-I've added a Caecilie Norby jazz cover

The Life on Mars? Collection: [EDIT: I"M NOT RE-POSTING THIS AGAIN!]
Part 1 (A - L)
Part 2 (M - Z)

Word on the street is that experimental jazz surrealists The Bad Plus offer up a Life on Mars? cover on their new album that comes out at the end of May (not to mention covers of Tears for Fears and Rush!). Anyone got any other Mars covers?

The Onion AV Club posted their "14 Cover songs that are better than the originals". I originally wanted to post some of my picks, but I'm a little bogged down with work so that'll have to wait until maybe next week. Also check out their interview with Andrew Bird about his upcoming album, the Scythian empire, and his appearance on Jack's Big Music Show. Can't wait 'til next Tuesday!
One last bonus track: Andrew Bird as Dr. Stringz

Alright, going to the mountains this weekend for some skiing! See you next week.